Wednesday, 30 May 2012

A bit of a mess this week! Got lots of 'stuff' kind of just 'dumped' on my desk today!

The Journal is lying open and 'airing'! I made the mistake of closing it too early last time I worked on it and the pages stuck together! So annoyed with myself as the pages were lovely. hey ho, we learn by our 'mistakes' i suppose, must get me some greaseproof paper though, that may help with the Gesso'd pages! The Craft Stamper mag is there because I want to use that freebie stamp to finish of those journal pages....silly me entered those into a challenge but FORGOT you have to do some STAMPING ... *rolleyes* .. Honestly, I am such a scatterbrain at times! lol

There is an Alterations Lace border die and some Tim Holtz Idea-ology stuff for that Configurations tray you see there, which is finished but I want to change a few things in because I have decided that this will be a gift! Will reveal all later so watch this space!

Now - Seeing as Mr D over on THE STAMPING GROUND is currently away on an impromptu 'holiday' ( get well soon Julia's dad) I have decided that I am NOT going to keep this short this week...because I have 'things' to say. lol

I found the WOYWW bloghop by accident, courtesy of JENNIE at THE ARTISTIC STAMPER , wondered what she on about, followed the links and... well the rest is history as they say.
I am SO glad I joined because I have met lots of lovely people and had such wonderful help and support when needed, found inspiration by the bucket load, learnt new techniques and joined online courses!! My journey had been fantastic so I thank you all for that ! :D

But most of all...... a HUGE big THANK YOU to Julia for organising such a wonderful trip and one of THE longest coffee breaks in history!! lol!

Right, seeing as all the 'mushy' stuff is out of the way - I'm off to drag my sad sorry butt upstairs lol, I want to finish off my ATC for the Birthday Swap - do the stamping on those journal pages, fiddle about with that Configurations tray - AND when it's all done I'm going to dye my hair Cyber Purple!! My white roots are showing!!! Trust me! Purple and White is NOT a good look for me at the moment lol!!!

Monday, 28 May 2012

Soooo...seeing as I was out at the weekend and treated myself to a couple more Dylusions Inks and a stencil I thought I'd have a little play! WOW I LOVE these inks! So bright and cheery and simply great when you ' just add water ' lol!

So here's how it was done..... I just sprayed the pages with a few colours spritzed with water then dried them off! I used the stencil in positive AND negative then dried them off!

I doodled the word "Words" , along with the border and the big scroll!

The wording on the right hand page is a quote I found on the Internet, and is by an unknown author. I printed it off cut it up and then stuck it down. I felt this quote just said everything about a certain person's thinking.... (which I'm still rather angry about but that's another story!

Absolutely thrilled with the way this has turned out ! Really bright and colourful!

Saturday, 26 May 2012

Well, here's a double page spread that I did for a blog challenge and to be honest I am not really very happy with it!

I think it was a case of just trying too hard, I wasn't happy with what I'd done so lost my temper with myself, covered it up with white paint which lifted the colours underneath and mixed with the white paint! So I just walked off in the huff!! I think we have all had thjose "god, I'm just no good at this moments"!! I left things alone for a couple of days and just concentrated on doing other stuff!

When I'd gotten myself into a better frame of mind I went back to it! I just worked on what was there and improvised! It turned out not too bad considering, Not really too happy with the lettering but that will come through practice!

I wasn't sure whether or not to blog this but felt it was important to show the process of creating and some of the 'common' difficulties that can occur at times!

I guess I just wasn't in the right frame of mind when I did this piece! So lets just say it was a good 'warm up' excercise!! lol

Wednesday, 23 May 2012

Well it's that time again, can't believe it's come around already! Time for the mahoosive blog hop that is run by the lovely JULIA who encourages you sit down. have a tea or coffee , partake in some "me" time and spend all day just having a nosey around the world's crafty desks spaces! 'Tis SUCH a great way to get inspiration and maybe just a little support if you are not feeling too great with 'life stuff'!!

Anyways....on my desk this week is my journal, which is still drying off, I had a play with those gorgeous Dylusions inks yesterday after a rather heavy shift in the garden! (nearly killed my poor little lawn mower too) lol... If you want a better look at those pages then please see the post below this one, I linked to my blog this week instead of a single post so it may give you the chance for a better look.

Scotland is having some rather strange weather at the moment.....the sun is actually shining!!!!! lol.... Sooooo think I'll get some of the 'bigger' stuff in the washing machine and then out on the ropes today! i.e curtains, bedding blah blah blah.....while that lot is getting handled I can sit and have a nosey about everyone's else's desks! ....ahhh there IS a method in my madness after all!!

Tuesday, 22 May 2012

I have had a little play about with the "smile" page because I felt that the phrase needed to 'pop' a little more, it looked a bit 'lost' in the background! So here's what I did to change that...

I highlighted the lettering with my white paint pen! It really makes a difference doesn't it! Now the reason for editing this post rather than reposting is simple, I belong to a giant bloghop ! What's On Your Workdesk Wednesday or WOYWW for those in the know! If you click on the badge for it in my side bar you will see what it''s all about,.....anyway I digress....I've had a few comments on my journal pages so I decided to link my blog this week instead of just a single post to give people a better chance to look at some of the pages I've done! So I didn't want to repost and drop the original post down, with over 100 participants in this hop it can be time consuming having to scroll down for the origianl posting...

Anyway, I was given a link by one of the WOYWW'ers to THIS PLACE The Art Journal Cafe, and I have decided to join! I am new to Art journaling so I'm enjoying experimenting different techniques and I think this place will be a great help! So my first Art Journal challenge begins! :) Wish me luck!

Scotland saw something rather incredible today! Yep! Sunshine!!!! Soooooo off outside I went to sort out the jungle that is supposed to be my garden! So you can see where the inspiration for these pages came from!

Now they are not nearly as 'green' as they appear in the photo so it must be the flash on my camera-phone, call it what you will lol.

I started by giving the pages a Gesso base then when it was dry I sprayed with Dylusions Lemon Zest, then spritzed with water. dried it all off with a heat gun, sprayed over some Dylusions Fresh Lime and spritzed with water then dried off with a heat gun. I did the same thing again with the Vibrant Turquoise but after I'd dried it off I wiped it over with a baby wipe to soften it slightly! Gave the whole thing another spritzing with water and then dried it off and went for a coffee.... lol

I founds some old letter stencils in a charity shop a wee while ago and just knew they would come in handy for something... so I sprayed some inks through those as part of the background. I used some sequin waste and smudged through some green Stazon randomly over the pages.

The flowers were done using the plain squiggle/flourish from the A6 Borders # 1 , the blooms were from the Flower Power plate as are the leaves and the big solid and hollow dots, which are actually the centres for the blooms! I just used a Black Uni ball fine liner and and a white paint pen to do some doodling and highlight some of the bits and pieces on the page. I finished that off with the Tick Tock Butterfly stamped in Black Memento ink.

The word "Smile" was done by drawing around some plastic letters, I just used a black uni ball fine liner and a white paint pen to fill in the letters with some doodles!

The phrase is one I found on the Internet and it's by an unknown author so I can't give credit for such a lovely little verse!

Here's a close up of the part of the pages....

These pages are a lot more brighter and cheerier than the last ones i posted and I did enjoy getting very inky doing these! Must get some more of those inks though, they are really bright and very colourful! Just love them!

Sunday, 20 May 2012

Oven on HEL'S BLOG for the Sunday Stampers Challenge the theme this week is "Circles"

Now I have NOT had a very good week last week and just basically had a bit of a struggle with my depression , just got so much going on with this divorce and stuff that I think things just got on top of me a little. My mojo wouldn't make an appearance either so I just kind of fell apart a little.

Anyway, I thought I'd 'do' something today rather than vegetate in front of the telly so I picked up my journal and just 'poured' out a few thing in that!

Here's a close up of the pages.....

The pages were already painted as I had used up what was left on my 'pallete' (an old CD) . So I just finished them off a bit using Sequin waste and bubble wrap! The big rings were done using the lid of a coffee jar and some brown acrylic paint along with the Borders A6 #2 From The Artistic Stamper.

The big circle is supposed to represent a bubble and was done by drawing on a cut off of some scrapbook paper around and old CD then stamped over using the above mentioned stamps, the house was drawn onto some brick design scrapbook paper and then distressed using, Walnut Stain distress ink. I drew in a pin (badly) about to burst that burst bubble, then tried my hand a some 'stacking doodles'! I decided to try the circles and they are sitting very precariously and look about to topple.....

These circles were done using the lids off various sized containers of 'stuff' and some coins, I just drew round them all onto some of the Tim Holtz Crowded Attic papers, needed the notebook lines to help me a little with the writing, haven't really done too much writing so just getting in some practise.

I must admit, this project isn't very cheerful and quite sad and depressing really but it helped a little to try and get myself going and a wee bit more motivated. You can click on the photos to enlarge them a bit if you would like a better look.

Thank you for dropping by and I apologise for being in a rather low mood, it WILL pass.

Thursday, 17 May 2012

Well, I managed to drag my sorry A** upstairs and have a go at some crafting....just decided to play with the stamps that I won the other week, I also played with the the other product that I bought while choosing my stamps...those wonderful Dylusions Inks! WOW! Are they funky and bright or what! Love them!! And will definitely get more!

Anyway, I bought a pack of canvas board while I was in town for the usual Job centre visit (oh how i hate that place)! So thought I'd have a try with it when I got home!

I sprayed the board with Lemon Zest Dylusions, then sprayed with some Golden Fish Cosmic Shimmer, blended it together with a baby wipe then gave a slight squirt with some Copper Cosmic Shimmer! Put it aside to dry and then worked on the embellishments.

I used the LONDON Theme plate and stamped onto some card which had been sprayed the same colour as the canvas with Black Memento ink, I dried it off then cut it out and stuck it down to the canvas at the bottom, I used the crowns border and stamped stripes using Wild Honey Distress Inks, and then used the Bunting to stamp along the top ! I made two tags again sprayed the same colour as the canvas and stamped the wording again using Black Memento, The wording on the top tag is from the Travelling Words plate, (love that little phrase). I sprayed a teensy amount Vibrant Turquoise Dylusions onto a wet baby wipe and just brushed around the edges of everything, it looks 'green' but then it would do going on top of yellow.... *sighs* but it does make everything 'pop' !

These two tags were dead quick to do! Again playing with Dylusions Inks... Lemon Zest, Fresh Lime and Vibrant Turquoise! Sprayed over both tags, spritzed with water then dried with a heat gun!

The stamps are from Chocolate Baroque and stamped using Black Memento ink! I highlight some of the swirls on the lady with a White Sakura Souffle gel pen just to make it stand out a little! First time I've used this stamp set in ages! I just thought it went well with those inks!

Wednesday, 16 May 2012

Well if you visited my desk last week you will see that not much has changed! Yep! My mojo has taken a holiday! :(

To be honest I've not done ANY crafting at all this last week, simply been up to my neck in 'life stuff'!! and not been handling things very well either, the old Depression and self doubt have kicked in severely this past week and I've been struggling a little.

Trying my damnedest to sort things out with the mortgage company so I can keep the house, have job centre appointment, lawyers appointments, job training appointments, doctor's appointments.....aaaahhhh!!! I NEED a holiday!! *eeks*!!

Anyways.....on a lighter note... if you pop over to Julia's you can have a look and see what's on other people's desks this week! Take part in a GIANT blog hop and just chill for the day! :D

Wednesday, 9 May 2012

Yes!! It's THAT time again! Wednesday!! A day when you can be really nosey and look around everyone else's desks!! A day when you visit Julia's Stamping Ground and sit all day ooohing and ahhhing and feeling a whole lot better when you see some one else's desk as 'creative' as yours!! lol So please pop over and join in the fun!

As you can see by my 'creativity' my 'tidy phase' lasted all of ten minutes!! lol... On my desk is just my art journal and all the 'stuff' I was using for those pages! My desk will probably stay that way for a couple of days now....I have shedloads of 'paperwork' to do...most of it regarding the divorce but there's other stuff such as 'change of circumstances forms'!! Oh how I hate doing those...feels like the Spanish Inquisition!! Hey ho...needs must I suppose!

Right, that's me done for the day, got to get on,

Take care and thanlks for dropping by and leaving comments, i really do appreciate it!

Monday, 7 May 2012

Over on The Artistic Stamper's creative team blog The Challenge this month is "spots and stripes" !! As soon as I saw that this song jumped into my head so I just HAD to see how this idea would play out on paper!

I started out with the usual Gesso pages, then over sprayed some yellow Glimmer mists. when dried I painted lemon stripes down the pages, when those were dried I over sprayed again and then edged the stripes with some yellow pro marker! I stamped into the stripes with A6 Borders #2 set in Wild Honey Distress Ink! When that was dry I then sprayed some water onto the sponge top of the bottle of Wild Honey Distress Stains and then just thumped it down onto to the page to give those cool splats!! (learned that from Jennie at The Artistic Stamper)! :) Put the whole thing aside to dry while I worked on the words and artwork...

I used one a lid from those stackable containers and drew round it. Coloured the circles with a yellow pro marker and then cut the circles out! I filled in the letters with a black pro marker and edged the circles to make them stand out! The Bikini is badly drawn by me onto some white card, just added some yellow polka dots and edged the whole thing with black pen. The little Beach Hut is done the same way only this time I used two shades of yellow for the colouring!

Wednesday, 2 May 2012

What you see there is my Art journal on the bottom, then a collection of 'stuff' for my altered Book! Along with other bits and pieces of 'stuff' that was used when making up the Tim Holtz Print Tray! Haven't had the time to put it away yet! The Meltpot needs cleaning lol!! Paints are left out because I'm going to use them next!! :)

Anyway, if you are wondering why I'm shoing off my ....ermm...state of creativity lol.. please pop over to Julia's Stamping Ground and have a wee look at the rest of the world's desks!

Before I head off, I would just like to thank everyone for visiting and leaving comments and would like to apologise for not getting round to visiting you all... I am one of those people who likes to just take my time a read through everything and there are quite a lot of desks to get though.... I WILL get round to you one day I promise! :)

About Me

Single parent to a grown up son. Just finished HND Diploma in Contemporary Art Practice at my local college.
Love all the grungy style. Anything to alter and I'm in heaven! Also love mixed media as I love experimenting and playing around with different products.
Am a mad keen Iron Maiden fan too so a bit of a metalhead and old school rocker.